SDG Council pay to increase this year

CORNWALL – SDG Counties Council agreed a significant pay increase will be in store for themselves when they approve a new bylaw in September.

At the August 25 meeting, staff reported back to council with a revised plan for council remuneration. In July, council was told they were among the lowest-paid elected officials in Eastern Ontario.

The revised plan reviewed the remuneration for the warden and the 11 councillors, compared to other upper-tier councils in the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus. Prescott-Russell and Renfrew Counties were excluded from the calculation as those council members do not receive expenses or per diem compensation. Single-tier municipalities like Prince Edward County was also excluded. SDG staff averaged the remaining eight municipalities, and took that as what the new remuneration for elected officials should be in this county.

The warden, as head of council, will see a $10,567 pay bump to $52,518.44 per year, while councillors will see a $6,351 pay increase to $22,014.39 per year. This is in addition to compensation received as an elected official at their respective lower-tier municipality.

Following this increase, council remuneration will increase every year following SDG’s current pay increase bylaw. If the Consumer Price Index is below one per cent, compensation increases by one per cent. If the CPI is above three per cent, the compensation increase is capped at three per cent. Should the CPI be between one and three per cent, the actual CPI percentage will be the pay increase.

Expense compensation and per-diem meeting rates are also increasing and were unchanged from the July report except for the removal of a proposed half-day meeting rate.

Discussion at the council table was limited to whether the increased compensation should begin immediately after the bylaw was passed, or at the beginning of the next term in November 2026.

Cognizant of the 2026 election year, Councillor Andrew Guindon (South Stormont) argued for delaying until the next term. The majority of council spoke in favour of it beginning once the bylaw is passed. A quick straw poll by Warden Martin Lang confirmed the overall majority of council wanting the pay increase to take effect as soon as possible.

Staff will table the final bylaw at their September 15 regular meeting.